My Favorite ARCO Moment: Jason Ross

Over the next two weeks, Sports 1140 KHTK will be sharing some stories from a variety of personalities that have experienced Sacramento Kings basketball at ARCO Arena.

After a 33-year run–28 years as the home of the Kings–ARCO will be demolished in the coming months to make way for a new California Northstate University medical school and teaching hospital.

The Kings will be holding a farewell event for the arena on Saturday, March 19th. You can find more info here.

Jason Ross – Host, The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross & Sacramento Kings radio broadcaster

What is your favorite ARCO Arena moment?

This is impossible to answer with just one moment because of all the things Arco Arena means to me. I think of the gamut of things that have taken place in that building that I was able to witness as a fan or as someone working one of those events.

As a fan seeing concerts like Elton John, and Janet Jackson. Watching the Sacramento Knights win an indoor soccer championship. Going to games for the only season of the Sac Attack-arena football team. Seeing Allen Iverson as a member of Georgetown coming into Arco with John Thompson and playing in a Sacramento State tournament at Arco was very memorable. Being able to watch my favorite team UCLA play a couple of rounds of the NCAA tournament in Arco was awesome. High School championships and graduations all had their moments.

Being blessed enough to work in sports gave me the opportunity to spend countless hours at Arco. Over the years the games blend together, but the outliers both positively and negatively stand out.

Working games for the Sacramento Monarchs was such a blast.

When they won the 2005 WNBA championship at Arco was one of the best things I had ever experienced. I was so closely connected to the players, coaches and the organization and I knew how much it meant to them and it still makes me smile and warms my heart reflecting back on such an accomplishment.

As for the Kings, the playoffs in 1996 and the standing ovation for what seemed forever when they took the court in game 3 against Seattle may never be topped for consistent cheering and energy.

The eight consecutive years of making the playoffs and for about three of those seasons they were legitimately one of the best teams in the NBA.

What I enjoyed most about that was the fact the team knew how much of a weapon ARCO was, and you could come in and beat the Kings in their house–but you were going to have to be great to do so. The fact that during that time I felt they were going to win every game at ARCO was a special feeling.

The home playoff wins. The passion behind the “Beat LA” chants with time remaining in game 5 against Dallas when it was all but assured that the Kings and Lakers were going to play again–and this time, in the Western Conference Finals.

Bibby in Game 5, the heartbreak of Game 7 all tells the story of the Kings in that building. Memories that I will take with me fondly even if some left some painful scars.

Lastly, the fans. The fans’ passion combined with the acoustics made it so LOUD.

The fans rallied to have their voice heard to keep this team here too. I feel like they go hand in hand, the building was special but so were the fans, they needed each other and in the end, as it aged, it was called a dump, but it was our dump.

• What will you miss most about ARCO Arena?

All the memories I listed above were surrounding events, but all of those special to me were the people involved.

If I was a fan, the shared experience of family members or friends that I was with. As someone who has worked the events, it is the people that I have been able to have relationships with. Connections were made, bonds were built and memories were etched.

I miss the people that worked there that didn’t move on to G1C. I miss the people that I worked with and no longer do anymore. I miss those whose paths I crossed then and now have gone in different directions.

That building means a lot to me as I spent so many hours there.

That is also why the final home game played in that building by the Kings was so special when so many players, coaches, front-office types all came back to recognize its greatness and what it meant to them.

• HBO’s “Winning Time” chronicles the rise of Lakers basketball in the 1980s. Which era of Kings basketball would you choose to see re-created on TV or film?

This team doesn’t have the kind of success of other franchises so for this to work I think it has to be the entirety of their existence in Sacramento. Starting with how they got here from Kansas City. Arco I, Arco II.

The early years of fans showing up at practices. Fans coming to games to cheer on the Kings but to really watch Dr. J, Bird, Magic, and Michael. The best years in Sac in the early 2000s. The threat of moving to Anaheim or Seattle. The building of G1C and the playoff-less streaks.

We have had our characters and they could all be in the spotlight of a unique story that may not be for everyone but it is our story all created by the Sacramento Kings.

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